Video servers are replacing videotape machines.

Digital Video Servers

Problems of Videotape

Videotape recorders, in one form or another, have been around for about 50 years and have served the industry well. They are used in all aspects of video production: acquiring original footage, editing, and playing back programs and commercials. The biggest problem with videotape machines is that they break down frequently and require a lot of maintenance. If a tape machine breaks down instead of showing a scheduled commercial, the station won't get paid for that commercial. Broadcasters would welcome a more reliable machine with an equal or better picture and sound quality, if it doesn't cost too much.

Video Servers

That machine is here, and it is the digital video server. A video server closely resembles a group of computer hard disk drives. With digital compression it is possible to squeeze a great deal of video and audio information onto hard drives. One big difference between computer hard drives and video servers is that servers have several channels so that people can do different things at the same time. With your computer drive you can save a document or you can open something, but those tasks have to be done separately and only by your computer (unless they are networked, which is something else). With a video server one person could be storing still images for later work, while at the same time someone else is playing back an edited piece of video from the same server. The number of people who can work simultaneously on a server is dependent on the number of channels it has. A two-channel server would allow two jobs to be done at the same time, whereas a four-channel server would allow four jobs to be performed at the same time.

Servers can be used for playing back commercials. They can be hooked up to a nonlinear editor and used for storage. They can be used for recording video in the studio. Just about anything you could do with a videotape machine can be done with a video server. Some studios have moved to a “tapeless” environment where videotape is not used at all; everything is done on video servers. In some cases, videotape is still used in the field to acquire original footage. When back in the studio, the tape will be dubbed to the server for editing and processing. With the introduction of disc-based camcorders, however, tape is no longer needed for field acquisition.

Servers have become very affordable in recent years. This change, coupled with the fact that servers are much more reliable than videotape machines and that a station will not have to buy videotape, makes digital video servers a real option for many stations.

1.  Tape is on its way out.

2.  Digital video server.